btw.. Ranger, no you don't have to. But it is idtech4 naming convention (meaning: XreaL and its derivatives use this nomenclature, so it is best to stick with it.) and its purpose is to ease the working process.

I'm trying to get the normals and spec showing on my aksu. I took your pack, and since it was messed up, changed the _local back to _norm, _spec, etc, so I could use the unedited .md3, which was uncorrupted. It doesn't show up, and I don't know why, I changed the .shader file too, but I didn't touch anything else. What did you change in the .md3 file?

Also, your test map is all black and stuff ingame, but I can still see the dynamic lighting working. :/

1.) Does your aks model show up in-game?
2.) Is it skinned (does diffusemap show up?).
3.) Double check if shader name is the same as the one stated in the md3
(if md3 states models/weapons2/m4_main.jpg, then shader name has to be models/weapons2/m4_main).

There are patches of light, but everything else is pitch black. The aksu shows up in game, it is diffuse mapped, but no apparent spec or normals are visible, but I can tell there is dynamic lighting, so it isn't that. I will try and get some screenshots up for you.

Go under the patch of light, then fire a few rounds and reload (so that you can see how it looks during reload animation).
Another way to test it is to use a 3rd person view from the side.
If you still won't see any normal mapping or specularity, then check the console output. (Search for any "shader models/weapons2/aks****** has normal map stage without image" errors. Or "can't find models/weapons2/aks***** image in shader")
Also, it would be great if you could show me some in-game screenshots or send the "fixed" pk3 to me to test it.

My free time is really limited. ET-XreaL supports all ET model formats and compared to the old XreaL it can even animate .md3 and .mdc models on the GPU. I have no time for writing new import/export tools. The renderer still contains all code for better animation formats like .md5mesh/.md5anim and .psk/.psa.

Wall shader rebuild in OBJ_NOW to get specular map:
This is for what I dreamed from years in TC:E

As TC:E isn't open source we can't even publish bump & specular maps Without ability to improve textures we don't get too far graphic improvement.
So spending time on TC:E <> Xreal without the top permission, will not let us give something to players.

This is how looks like stock OBJ_SNOW for me.
Even many tricks with r_HDRgamma / bloom / overbright - still can't get shadows , color light , some weapon models not appear etc ...
But soon or later we find the way